Sacramento Proposal/Approval/Construction Thread - III

[jdaniel]

This is a little late in coming but its worth a shot.

LJUrban (www.ljurban.com/blog) is hosting a Sacramento Urbanist Blogger Dinner this upcoming Monday. We'll be chatting about a couple of our projects in the Washington Area of West Sacramento (btw the two bridges): these projects are in their early formative stages which is a perfect time for creative discussion and we thought it would be fun to open the conversation up to others.

Real casual. Good food. And, we hope, some interesting dialogue. I was initially thinking blogs but we're also targeting other urban thinkers and this forum definitely fits the bill.

We're capping the event at 20 people to preserve the quality of discussion. At present we have 5 blogs and about 5 other urbanists, so we're looking for a few more to round things out (15 would be ideal).

Anyways, if you're interested, shoot me an e-mail ([email protected]) and I'll send you an invite with more information.

Next time round, I'll post something sooner...

[sacamenna kid]

Drove by Aura today and noticed that the whole property is fenced and it looked like it was being staked out for siting. The sales office seemed fenced off, too. Is something happening there?

[BrianSac]

everyone is still trying to figure out if that means Aura is getting ready to build or if 621 wants q presentable parking lot next door, or if a brand new project is suddenly going to be built!

on another note: a wrecking crew demolished those tin shacks and an old car mechanics shop on S Street/17th street....that means Fulcrum is moving forward with there project on S Street.

[wburg]

Originally Posted by BrianSac

everyone is still trying to figure out if that means Aura is getting ready to build or if 621 wants q presentable parking lot next door, or if a brand new project is suddenly going to be built!

on another note: a wrecking crew demolished those tin shacks and an old car mechanics shop on S Street/17th street....that means Fulcrum is moving forward with there project on S Street.

Actually Fulcrum's "Ice Blocks" is the other half of the block, the R Street side. The S Street project between 17th and 18th is different--the developer is this fellow Roger Hume, and an organization known as "S Street MidriseDevelopment LLC." The last time I spoke with him, he said that they have planned a 7-8 story building for the block, with "artisan-driven" retail on the ground floor. He keeps promising to present the project to nearby neighborhoods soon, but so far we haven't seen anything, and he has not yet formally submitted a plan to the city planning department.

[innov8]

Township 9 is comprised of 4 districts. Transit Area, The Central
Mixed-Use Area, Live/Work Townhouse Area, and Riverfront Area.
These are from the Planning Commission Meeting Agenda for July 26th.

On July 26th Township 9 will go before the Planning Commission to review
the mixed use of residential, retail, and office use of 65 acres. Rezoning
of 37 acres has been requested from heavy industrial to residential
mixed use zones. Township 9 has proposed 2,981 dwelling units
and 147,000sf of retail. In May of this year the proposal went
before the City Preservation Commission and received approval
to move forward with demolition of the existing structures on the site.

[northbay]

nice! i like that transit station sketch - my eye is drooling

[TowerDistrict]

Originally Posted by northbay420

my eye is drooling

haha... that's gotta be the strangest form of crying i've heard of.

yeah, that looks great. i wonder how the phasing will occur? i'd imagine they'll start with the office portion, then slowly phase into the residential, considering the market conditions. it'll be interesting to find out their timeline for a complete build-out too.

[wburg]

I assume that they're not waiting for the light rail link-up to be done...one assumes that there will be a theoretical bridge to Natomas and the "D-N-A" line over the river roughly where the "2" is on that site map. Although I kind of hope they do have the rails down before they build out: as we are seeing now in Natomas, building the neighborhood and then the rail link means (a) people have already settled into a car-centric travel mode, and (b) people will object to what they will perceive as a public-transit intrusion into their neighborhood.

[reggiesquared]

I really hope this rail yard thunder stealing project gets done. I get the feeling it will finish before the rail yards begin...

[wburg]

Well, they have a lot less baggage to deal with...the land was a fruit and vegetable cannery, so far less toxic crud (if any) to clean up, other than the inevitable asbestos, the site is far less historically significant (although it is of some significance--the plan addresses some ways they plan on making up for the demo) and it's a fraction of the size of the Railyards. RT had just better have the damn rails that far before they start selling units if they plan on doing it at all...

[Tenebrist]

Originally Posted by wburg

Although I kind of hope they do have the rails down before they build out: as we are seeing now in Natomas, building the neighborhood and then the rail link means (a) people have already settled into a car-centric travel mode, and (b) people will object to what they will perceive as a public-transit intrusion into their neighborhood.

Right! Also, if the rail is there first, it's more likely to attract a resident with rail-centric tendencies. Or ,at least, a willing user of mass transportation. I suspect that a very high percentage of the residents of Natomas have NEVER used any mode of mass transportation.

[innov8]

The 621CM crane comes down in August.

[arod74]

I saw an article in this weeks SBJ on the Firestone building. Did anyone get the jist of it?

[ltsmotorsport]

So is the new Township 9 going to have a place for a river crossing, for light rail and traffic? Or would the eventual DNA line and Natomas crossing be somewhere esle.

With all the problems this area seems to have with new bridges, you'd think any new developement would try to plan ahead and let new residents know as early as possible.

[wburg]

The river crossing would pretty much have to be right there. It would almost certainly be a light-rail only bridge. The problem, as always, will be money: without funding, no DNA line and no branch to Township 9, which means that the right-of-way may end up being used as a parking lot for the residents' cars, which they will certainly need to get downtown if there is no rail-borne transit. Buses just don't cut it...

[TowerDistrict]

Actually the preferred alignment is through Sequoia Pacific Blvd., linking up to Truxel on the opposite side. I have a detailed diagram of the route on the wayfaring map in my signature below.

[wburg]

Originally Posted by TowerDistrict

Actually the preferred alignment is through Sequoia Pacific Blvd., linking up to Truxel on the opposite side. I have a detailed diagram of the route on the wayfaring map in my signature below.

Weird...the plans show LRVs "parked" on what was Seventh Street, but according to the preferred alignment map you show, they hang a left on Richards. It's not particularly practical to have a pair of single-ended sidings as a passenger depot and have LRVs back and fill across Richards (which, if the area gets successfully redeveloped, would be a very busy street) every fifteen minutes, so I wonder how they're going to manage that.

[TowerDistrict]

Yeah it's an awkward fit there, but they've got to get it hooked up to Truxel on the north side. I think the only other alternative would be run it up N. 7th and do a big S-curve through Discovery Park??

[wburg]

According to the draft EIR (there's a printed copy at the central library,) the plan is to utilize a light rail station on Richards Boulevard, which would follow the Seventh Street to Sequoia Pacific route you described. I'm pretty sure that the pedestrian-oriented walkway in this concept sketch:

is *not* Richards Boulevard.

[TowerDistrict]

i think that's supposed to be a couple streetcars, not light rail. which would presume a whole helluva lot.